Justified by faith alone!

Justification is a word I don't spend enough time thinking about, and I am only just beginning to realise how vital it is for me to think about it more.

Recently I have had days when I feel like the worst mother, wife, friend...I have called upon the Lord constantly to help me with my attitude, my heart, but what I have failed to realise is that the reason I feel these things so much is because of my own self-righteousness.

If I were to examine my heart more honestly, I know that I am more grieved at my inadequacies rather than been grieved that God is not being glorified when my heart is not totally fixed on Him.

The cross is my only cure. The realisation that it's only by the blood of Christ that I have any worth, it's only because of what He has done that I have been made righteous before a Holy God.

The book I was reading today, Your Home a Place of Grace, by Susan Hunt reminded me of justification.

"Most of us struggle with accepting the people and circumstances in our lives and with feeling accepted by others. Our performance orientation is heard in statements as:

......If I do more for the Lord, He will love me more.
And the guilt-ridden hyperactive child of God eventually loses joy and grows weary of well-doing.

This type of thinking displays a theological problem - a failure to understand the glorious doctrine of justification by faith alone. Martin Luther said that justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls.

...This doctrine is an essential building block in a haven of grace because our acceptance of ourselves, our circumstances, and others will be in proportion to our understanding of our acceptance before the judgement seat of God."

A few months ago, after reading The Cross Centred Life - Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C J Mahaney, I was challenged to read over passages about the cross daily, to help me keep my mind cross centred. I am starting to realise how essential this is. I have had Romans 5:1-11 pinned on my bathroom wall all this year and the times I have meditated and saturated my mind with it have been so enriching...but lately I haven't been focused on it....

I think I need to spend some more time in the bathroom!

Mahaney lists the following passages to help us preach to ourselves, that speak of God's work of salvation through the cross.

Isaiah 53:3-6
Romans 3:23-26
Romans 5:6-11
Romans 8:32-29
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Galatians 2:21